WHY is TANSTAAFL a word everyone should know and use? What does it mean? What do twin peaks, minimum wages, sugar tax, fees must fall, data must fall, plain packaging, national health insurance and South African Airways (SAA) subsidies have in common?No, this is not one of those pathetic jokes, such as that what babies and soccer players have in common is that they dribble. What they have in common is unfortunately no joke. They are policy proposals with protagonists who believe in "free lunches", who live in fantasy worlds with cost-free benefits. But TANSTAAFL. That is the acronym for "there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch". Everyone who internalises and applies the concept deserves a #liesmustfall doctorate.In the fantasy-free lunch world, governments confer cost-free blessings on subjects. And subjects they are, subjected to stifling controls and taxes at the expense of liberty and prosperity.TANSTAAFL denialism is puzzling and instructive. Costs are paramount for all of us ...
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